280 grain bullets in a .40-65 '86?

[Jubal Starbuck]

    I was wondering if anybody here has any experience with 280 grain bullets in original '86's.  I was thinking of  5744  or Black powder as a propellant.  I've only shot bullets in the 245 grain weight with these two powders before, with good results.  I discovered 50 280 grain slugs in .406 diameter along with 50 rounds of new Starline cases in my loading area and wondered if I could safely shoot them up.

[Trailrider]

So far as black powder with the 280 gr. bullets is concerned, you just need to fill the case to the point where you compress the powder about 1/16 inch. With smokeless, you'd probably need to reduce the charge by about 12.5 percent to compensate for the heavier bullet. One thing you may encounter would be whether the rate of twist is fast enough to stabilize the heavier bullet. I've seen .40 caliber M1886's with a bunch of different twists. Seems like they couldn't make up their mind.  You could measure the twist and run a bunch of calculations, but probably the best way is just to try them and see,

[Jubal Starbuck]

Good information there, Trailrider , thanks for your input.

[nasarna970]

To be on the safe side, I suggest you go to the manager of some gun store. They probably know better and will be able to give you the right advice. When I was looking for Winchester 209 primers, I couldn't find them in any store. I finally found them at midcitygunshop.com. The manager at midcitygunshop helped me with my search and gave me some advice from personal experience. I love to experiment, but I advise you to be more careful. You have to understand that the consequences can be very bad. Anyway, good luck to you!

[Ranch 13]

 Yes you can safely load those bullets , but check the groove diameter of the barrel, and then as already mentioned the twist of the barrel may not stabilize the longer bullet.